Severe monsoon flooding has swamped villages and paddy fields in central Myanmar, forcing people from their homes, including many already displaced by war, according to the UN and reports from the ground.
“The suffering we are facing, I can’t even put into words how painful it is,” said Cho Myint, a 53-year-old villager from Wetlet township in the central Sagaing region. Standing by an upturned boat, she told AFP on 14th August that her family had been forced to flee rising floodwaters and was “left with nothing.”
The UN said on 14th August that since July, severe monsoon flooding in Sagaing, Rakhine, Irrawaddy, and Kachin states has affected an estimated 390,000 people, with 230,000 in Sagaing alone. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the figures included people already affected by the civil war triggered by Myanmar’s 2021 military coup, meaning many communities are now facing a second wave of hardship as floodwaters reach temporary shelters and farmland.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement said that as of 11th August, heavy rainfall and river flooding in Sagaing had forced more than 11,400 people from 3,220 households to relocate to flood relief centres.
U Sint, another villager from Wetlet township, said some war refugees in the area lived in small, temporary shelters that were “completely submerged”. “They couldn’t save anything. It is really terrible,” Myint said.
The floods have also ruined many people’s livelihoods, Myint added. “The rice seedlings have already been swept away… In this area, it’s simply impossible to plant padi anymore,” he said. “Even if we were to sow seeds again, the land hasn’t emerged yet.”
In Wetlet, Aung Ko stayed behind with his brother-in-law to look after their cow, saying only about 10 or 14 people remained in the area. They have been living on an upper floor of their home under tarpaulins, surviving on instant noodles and bottled water brought by local rescuers visiting by boat. “Before the donors came, we had no choice but to take floodwater and boil it to drink,” he said, standing in knee-high muddy waters.
OCHA spokesman Pierre Peron told AFP on 14th August that the organisation had no figures yet for the number of people displaced by the heavy rains. But “with ongoing monsoon rainfall and several major rivers at or above danger levels, we unfortunately estimate that the impact of the flooding will continue in coming days and weeks.”
UN partners were mobilising to help the most vulnerable, Peron said, adding that flood damage to homes, shelters, infrastructure, and farmland “has exacerbated humanitarian needs, particularly for food, health services, safe water, and livelihood support.”
While the monsoon brings rainfall that farmers depend on each year, climate change is making the seasonal rains more erratic, unpredictable, and deadly across the region. Humanitarian organisations are focusing on immediate needs such as clean water, food, medical care, and shelter repairs, though access challenges and the scale of the damage are complicating the response.
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